Solenoid operated switch



Jan. 4, 1949.

Filed Dec. 2, 1944 A. s. DUBUA-R 2,457,878

SOLENOID OPERATED SWITCH 4 Sheets-Sheet l IIIIIIIIIllIIlllIIIIII-h /Nl EN TOR ,4. S DUBUAR Q35 W112 [77 I ATTORNEY Jan. 4, 1949. A. s. DUBUAR 2,457,878

SOLENOID OPERATED SWITCH Filed Dec. 2, 1944 4 Sheets-sheaf 2 lNVENTOR A. S. DUBUAR A T TORNEV Jan. 4, 1949." A, s, DUBUAR 2,457,878

SOLENOID OPERATED SWITCH Filed Dec. 2, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I lNVE/VTOR B? 14.5. DUBUA/Q Jan. 4-, 1949. v s, DUBUAR Q 2,457,878

7 SOLENOID OPERATED SWITCH Filed Dec. 2, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 J assvg I ll Armmvsy Patented Jan. 4, 1949 UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SOLENOID OPERATED SWITCH Applicationa'necember. 2, 1944, Serial No. 566,276-

11 Claiins. 1..

This invention relates'toswitching' mechanisms andparticularly to such mechanisms employed in telephone systems to automatically-establish electrical connections.

Ani objectis tosimplify and im-provethe mechanical: details of such. switching mechanisms and to improve the operating characteristics thereof.

Hereto-fore various types of switching mechanisms have. been employed in. automatic telephone systems and. elsewhere for establishing electrical connections by advancing brushes-in steps to contact with succeeding terminals; In some types a single. solenoid. coil. energized at intervals has been used to act on a single plunger to advance a shaft-connected, thereto: in'steps. 'I'hisshaft may carry brushes for connection to succeeding terminals or levels of terminals. In othercasesa' seriesof. three such coils has been used to act ona succession ofplungers to advance the shaft.

The present inventionrelates. to solenoid controlled switching devices of these types,: and a feature thereof is an arrangement-of a plurality of solenoid coils and a. single magnetic plunger, connected to the brush carrying shaft. This plunger is in positionto be acted upon by said coils in responsetothe energization ofa first coil. to advance the plunger a firststep, then to the energization of the second 'coil' followedby the deenergization of the first coil to advance said plunger a second step. and. to thenrepeat said operations of energizing a succeedingcoil and deenergizi'ngi a preceding coil. to advance the plunger one step for each such-set of repeated operations. This system of' control may be applied to an arrangement wherethe shaft with its brushes'is advanced in steps tov succeeding levels in a terminal bank-by one set of coils. and then rotated to connect the brushes with acertain set of "terminals in the selected level by another set of coils.

Another feature is a. switching arrangement employing. this type of coil' andlpl'unger system for selecting from coordinately arranged terminal banks,'a particular terminal bank, then selecting a level 'oflt'erminals' in'this bank and then a set of terminals in'the selected'level for establishing of a connection between saidterminals and a set of brushes.

Circuit arrangements may be provided whereby'all the selecting movements may; bemade in individual selectively. controlled" steps iexcept in cases" Where the selection may be'done by automatically hunting for an idlesetofterminaIsin the selected level; These circuits rnay be applied 2. to? awsingle two-motion selective switch or to a switching-system in which the terminal banks are coordinately; arranged.

The invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 showsaselector switch in which the applicants invention has beenapplied for the ad-- vancement of brushes to a particular level and rotated to select and. connect with a particular set'of terminalsin theselected level;

Fig. 2 shows the applicants invention applied in a switching system iniwhich the terminal banks are coordinately arranged;

Fig. 3 shows a portion of the switching arrangement shown in Fig. 2 with the brushes advanced to a certain level at a certain terminal bank;

Figs. 4 5. and 6 show various details ofthe switching arrangements shown in Fig. 2',

Fig. 7 shows circuits and commutator arrangements for controlling the coils to advance the brushes in selectively controlled steps; and

Fig. 8- showscircuits and commutator arrangementsfor" controlling the coils to advance the brushes for huntingcfor an idle set of terminals.

Referring now to the switch shown in Fig.1, where the applicants inventionhas been applied to mechanisms for advancing a set of brushes or wipers to any one of a set of terminals in a particular: level in a switch bank; This mechannism consists of a standard bank of terminals [in which the terminals arearranged in levels, the brushes 2 aremounted -on a shaft 3;- the-upper end of thisv shaftbeing provided with a rack 4 meshing. witha pinion 5 to which is attached a gear wheel limeshing in-turn with a rack l, to the upper endof which is" attached a magnetic plunger-8 located inside a solenoid coil 9". Above this-coil 9 are-located other coils, such as lO-and ll. Thisgroupof coils may consistof'ten coils for the passage'of the plunger B therethrough to lift itand the rod 1 from one to ten steps. As these coils of necessity must belarger than the distance between the levels of terminals of bank I, this rack-1; gear 6', pinion S'and rack 4 may be so proportioned that when the plunger 8 is advanced one step the brushes 2 advance only the distance from one level of terminals to another. To hold the'brush'es in advanced position therack I is provided with teeth such as l2 engaged by pawl l3" controlled by a holding and release magnet l4; Attached'to the rack l is a series of brushes l6 which engage; as the rack l advances, contact segments on thecommutator ll. These brushes lfi'and' commutator H are used for the control of the advancement of the rack I as will be hereinafter described.

To rotate the shaft 3 for causing the brushes to engage terminals in the selected level of bank I, an arrangement is provided similar to that for lifting the rod 3 to advance it to a particular level. It will be noted that the lower part of shaft 3 is provided for that purpose with a pinion I9 which is rotatable with the shaft but is prevented from moving with the shaft when raised vertically. This pinion meshes with the rack 20 which in turn meshes with the pinion 2I connected to a gear wheel 22. This gear wheel 22 meshes with a rack 23 at one end of which is connected a plunger 24. This plunger is normally located inside the coil 25 and may be moved horizontally through succeeding coils such as 26, 21. In this arrangement ten coils may be provided to rotate the shaft 3 from one to ten steps. The rack 23 is also provided with a means for holding the brushes at a particular rotary position by having the teeth 30 provided thereon engaged by a pawl 3I controlled by a holding and release magnet 32. To control the rotary movement of the shaft 3, the rack 23 is also provided with a series of brushes 35 engaging segments of a commutator 36. The operation of this control will be described hereinafter. The brushes may be rotated back to normal position by energizing the holding and release magnet 32 permitting rack 23 to return to normal position under the tension of a spring 38. Similarly, the shaft may be returned from its vertical position to its normal position by a restoring spring arrangement shown at 40 on the operation of release magnet I4.

Referring now to Figs. 2 to 6, a description will be made of the applicants invention as applied to a switching system in which the terminal banks are coordinately arranged. In these figures a series of terminal banks, the same as shown in Fig. 1, are arranged in vertical and horizontal rows. These banks are marked I00. Associated with each vertical row of banks is a shaft such as IN on which is provided a series of sleeves or carriages I02, each carrying a set of brushes for connecting with the associated bank. This arrangement is such that any brush carriage may be selected to be advanced vertically and then rotated horizontally to connect its brushes with a particular set of terminals. On each shaft IOI at the upper end thereof is provided a rack I03 and on a shaft I04 running horizontally across all of the shafts IOI are mounted pinions such as I05 keyed to the shaft to be moved horizontally each by a magnet I06 and its armature I01. The shaft I04 is connected to a gear I08, meshing with a rack IIO connected to a plunger III normally located inside a first coil I I2. This coil is the bottom coil of a series of ten coils, such as H3, H4, etc., for the movement of the plunger III through these coils as in the structure shown in Fig. 1. Brushes I I5 are attached to the rack I I0 to engage the segment of commutator II6 for the control of the movement of the rack and the plunger through the coils. Across each series of horizontally located carriages is a rod I20, controlled to be moved longitudinally by a magnet I2I. This rod I is provided at each carriage with a cam member I24 which when the bar I20 is moved longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 5, engages an associated key I25 to move it into a hole I26 in the shaft IOI. Thus, when the associated shaft is lifted from a normal position, the carriage locked by this means will be lifted by the shaft and later be rotated as well, as the key will remain locked during rotation by this cam I24. To rotate a shaft IIll a rack I29 is provided at the bottom running horizontally across all the shafts IOI. For that purpose each shaft is provided with a pinion I30 which when a particular shaft is lifted will engage the rack I 29 for rotation of the associated shaft when the rack I29 is moved horizontally. The rack I29 is connected at the right-hand end to another rack I3I which meshes with the pinion I32 attached to gear wheel I33 meshing with a rack I34 at one end of which is connected a plunger I35 inside a first coil I36 of a series of ten coils similar to those shown for raising the shaft. Brushes I31 on rack I34 engage segments on commutator I38 for controlling the movements of plunger I35 in the coils. Each carriage may be rotated back to normal by an associated spring such as I 30 and may be restored in the vertical direction by a spring such as I40 while the shaft I01 may be restored to normal by a spring Ml. To maintain a carriage in rotated position a holding pawl I42 is provided for each carriage to engage a ratchet I43 connected to the carriage and may be released by release magnet I44 actuating the pawl I42. The whole structure may be mounted in any suitable frame structure.

To select a particular bank and actuate its a sociated carriage to cause the brushes thereon to connect with a particular set of terminals of this bank, the operation of this mechanism is as follows: The first operation that takes place the actuation of a particular rod I20 by its magnet I2I. This looks all of the carriages in the corresponding horizontal row to their respective shafts IN by cams I24 and keys I25. The next operation is the actuation of a particular magnet I06 to shift the associated pinion I05 in mesh with the corresponding rack I03 of a shaft IOI to be selected. Then the magnets, such as H2, H3, H4, etc., are operated in accordance with the applicants invention as will be described hereinafter. This will rotate the shaft I04 to raise the shaft IM to the desired level. The racks H0 and I03, pinion I05 and gear wheel I08 are so proportioned in relation to the movement of the plunger I II that the shaft IOI will advance for each step the distance between two succeed ing layers of the terminals in the switch banks. As this shaft MI is raised, the carriage in the corresponding horizontal row locked thereto will be raised the desired distance to the desired level. The next operation will be the actuation of the coils I36, etc. to shift the rack I3I towards the right as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, but as only the ratchet I30 associated with the raised shaft IOI is in mesh with rack I3! at this time, this particular shaft IOI will, therefore, be the only one that will be rotated. As this shaft IlZlI is rotated it will only cause the rotation of the particular carriage I02 that has its key I25 engaging the hole I26 in the shaft due to the operation of the particular magnet I2I. The rotation of shaft IOI with its particular carriage will thus cause the associated brushes on this carriage to engage a particular set of terminals in the par ticular level to which this carriage has been raised. The magnet I06 which was actuated and the coils H2, etc. that may have been operated will now be deenergized and the plunger I I I, race; IIO, shafts I04 and IOI will return to normal position. The magnet I2I which was operated will now also be deenergized to release the associated rod I20, to release the key I 25. The ele- 353 to ground. This will advance the plunger to the magnetic center between the two coils 355 and 359. This position is marked l Just before the brushes arrive at this position, it will be noted that the circuit for coil 355 is broken at segment 356 but the brush 365 is now engaged at the segments 36! so that coil 359 is maintained energized to ground on brush 365. Thus, the brushes are advanced through the position l to position 2 as the original circuit established by relay 35l is now closed for coil 359 from battery through this coil, commutator segments 389, brush 351 to ground at relay 350. The plunger will now be maintained at the magnetic center of coil 359 if the second trunk of the line is idle as there will be no ground on the corresponding sleeve terminal 310. Thus, the plunger may be advanced to connect the brushes 2 to the terminals of an idle line.

What is claimed is:

1. In a multiposition switching device, a series of electromagnetic coils, there being one coil for each position of said switch, an electromagnetic plunger in position to be acted upon by said coils when energized, means for energizing a first coil to advance the plunger a first step, for then energizing the second coil followed by the deenergization of the first coil, and for repeating the operation of energizing a succeeding coil and deenergizing a preceding coil to advance said plunger one step for each such repeated operation, and means associated with said plunger for establishing succeeding electrical connections.

2. In a multiposition switching device, a series of solenoids arranged on a common axis, there being one coil for each position of said switch, an electromagnetic plunger in position to be acted upon by said solenoids to travel through the same in succession, means for energizing a first solenoid to advance the plunger to the magnetic center of said first solenoid, for then energizing a second solenoid to advance the plunger to the magnetic center of both said solenoids, followed by the deenergization of the first solenoid to advance the plunger to the magnetic center of the second solenoid and then repeating the operations of energizing a succeeding solenoid and deenergizing a preceding solenoid to advance the plunger accordingly through said magnetic centers, and means associated with said plunger for establishing separate electrical connections at each instant the plunger is suspended at the magnetic center of each solenoid during its travels therethrough.

3. In a multiposition switching device, a series of coils arranged one on top of the other on a common axis, there being one coil for each position of said switch, an electromagnetic plunger inside the lower coil, means for energizing said lower coil and then the next coil and then deenergizing the first coil and for continuing such energization and deenergization of succeeding coils to move said plunger from coil to coil, a shaft on said plunger, brushes on said shaft, and a row of terminals over which said brushes may travel when the plunger is advanced through said coils.

4. In a multiposition switching device, a series of solenoids arranged on a common axis, there being one coil for each position of said switch, a plunger in position to be acted upon by said solenoids when energized in succession to travel through said solenoids in succession, a series of commutator plates, a series of brushes associated with said plunger to engage said plates in succession as the plunger is traveling through said solenoids, impulse responsive means and circuit means connecting said impulse responsive means, said solenoids, said plates and said brushes effective to cause said solenoids to be energized through said brushes and said plates to advance the plunger through one solenoid into a succeeding one for each impulse received.

5. In a multiposition switching device, a series of solenoids arranged on a common axis, there being one coil for each position of said switch, a plunger in position to be acted upon by said solenoids when energized in succession to travel through said solenoids in succession, a series of commutator plates, a series of brushes associated with said plunger to engage said plates in succession as the plunger is traveling through said solenoids, impulse responsive means, circuit means connecting said impulse responsive means, said solenoids, said plates and said brushes effective to cause said solenoids to be energized through said brushes and said plates to advance the plunger through one solenoid into a succeeding one for each impulse received, and means controlled by said plunger as it passes through the magnetic center of each solenoid for establishing separate electrical connections.

6. In a multiposition switching device, a series of coils arranged on a common axis, there being one coil for each position of said switch, a plunger in position to be acted upon when said coils are energized to travel through said coils in succession, a relay, means for energizing and deenergi zing said relay at intervals, means operating on a first energization of said relay for energizing a first coil and operative on the succeeding deenergization of said relay for energizing a second coil and maintaining said first coil energized and then on the next energization of said relay for deenergizing said first coil and for repeating the energization of a succeeding coil and the deenergization of a preceding coil to advance said plunger through succeeding coils for each such cycle of energization, and deenergization of said relay, and terminals and brushes controlled by the plunger to close connections with succeeding sets of terminals each time a succeeding coil is energized alone.

'7. In a switch, a series of vertical shafts, a series of horizontal bars intersecting said vertical shafts, a carriage loosely mounted on said shafts at each intersecting point of said shafts and bars, brushes on each carriage, a terminal bank at each said intersecting point comprising horizontally located semicircular levels of terminals, a magnet for moving each of said bars longitudinally, means responsive to the longitudinal movement of a bar for locking the carriages crossed by said bar to their respective shafts, a horizontally located shaft, pinions on said horizontal shaft, a rack associated with each said vertical shaft, a magnet for each pinion, said pinions, racks and magnets being so located in relation to each other that on the energization of any one of said magnets the associated pinion will be shifted in mesh with the associated rack, a series of coils, means responsive to the energization of said coils in succession for rotating said horizontal shaft to lift the particular vertical shaft whose rack is in mesh with the associated pinion. on said horizontal shaft to raise the particular carriage locked to said vertical shaft so that its brushes are placed opposite a corresponding level of terminals of the associated bank, a pinion attached to each vertical shaft,

a horizontal rack, a series of coils associated with said rack, means responsive to the energization of said coils in succession for moving said rack longitudinally, said rack and said pinions on said vertical shafts being so located in relation to each other that when a particular vertical shaft has been lifted and said coils shift said rack longitudinally, said particular lifted vertical shaft is rotated through the pinion by said rack to cause the brushes on the carriage locked to said shaft to rotate over the terminals in the selected level of the associated terminal bank to engage said terminals in succession, and remain engaged with a certain set of said terminals depending on the extent of the rotary movement of said vertical shaft.

8'. In a switch, a series of shafts, a series of bars intersecting said shafts, a brush carriage loosely mounted on said shafts at each intersecting point of said shafts and bars, a terminal bank associated with each brush carriage, means for actuating any one of said bars to lock the carriages at the intersecting points of said bar to said shafts, means for lifting any one of said shafts and means for rotating a lifted shaft, said lifted and rotated shaft causing the brushes of its locked carriage to engage a certain set of terminals in the associated bank depending on the extent of the lifting and rotating movements thereof.

9. In a switch, a series of shafts, a series of bars intersecting said shafts, a brush carriage loosely mounted on said shafts at each intersecting point of said shafts and bars, a terminal bank associated with each brush carriage, means for actuating any one of said bars to lock the carriages at the intersecting point of said bar to said shafts, means for lifting any one of said shafts, means for rotating the lifted shaft, said lifted and rotated shaft causing the brushes of its locked carriage to engage a certain set of terminals in the associated bank depending on the extent of the lifting and rotating movements thereof, and means for holding said carriage in engagement with said set of terminals after the said lifted and rotated shaft and actuated bar are returned to normal.

10. In a switch, a series of shafts, a series of bars intersecting said shafts, a brush carriage loosely mounted on said shafts at each intersecting point of said shafts and bars, a terminal bank associated with each brush carriage, means for actuating any one of said bars to lock the carriages at the intersecting points of said bar to said shafts, a series of solenoid coils, a plunger therein, means for moving said plunger in step through said coils when said coils are energized in succession, means for selectively associating any one of said shafts with said plunger and lifting said shaft when said coils are energized in succession, a second series of solenoid coils and a plunger therein for moving said plunger in steps through said solenoid coils when said coils are energized in succession, means associated with said shafts and said last-mentioned plunger for rotating in steps any one of said shafts after it has been lifted, said lifted and rotated shaft causingthe brushes of its locked carriage to engagea certain set of terminals in the associated bank depending on the extent of said lifting and rotating movements.

11. In a multiposition switching device, a series of coils having one coil for each position of said device, said coils arranged on a common axis, a plunger in position to be acted upon when said coils are energized to travel through said coils in succession, a first relay, means to energize and deenergize said relay at intervals, a second relay, said second relay responsive to the first energization of said first relay to energize the first of said series of coils to advance said plunger, distributing means under the control of said plunger, circuits controlled by said second relay and said distributing means, effective in response to each deenergization of said first relay to maintain the energization of the previously energized coil and to energize the succeeding coil to advance said plunger a half step and effective responsive to each subsequent energization of said first relay to maintain the energization of the succeeding coil and to deenergize the previously energized coil to advance said plunger a second half step, and brushes controlled by said plunger to close connections with succeeding sets of terminals at each complete step.

ARTHUR S. DUBUAR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,247,399 Hendrickson Nov. 20, 1917 1,284,672 Hendrickson Nov. 12, 1918 1,284,732 Magrath Nov. 12, 1918 1,296,680 McQuarrie Mar. 11, 1919 

